First drive: Ford Falcon EcoLPi

Ford’s gas-powered Falcon is back, and this time around it’s no longer the realm of taxi drivers and sales reps.

The EcoLPi Falcon, as it will be known, joins Ford Australia’s showrooms next month at a critical time for the brand.

Sales of the big Australian-made family car have been in steady decline for the last five years, and were hit even harder in September last year when supplies of the old-generation EGas Falcon dried up after the introduction of much stricter emissions laws that also claimed the thirsty, turbocharged Territory soft-roader.

This time, though, the Ford engine is based on the newer petrol engine introduced with the launch of the FG Falcon in 2008, rather than the older BF Falcon-based system that preceded it.

The big change this time around is that the gas-fed Ford squirts liquid LPG into the cylinder, and not gas like the old system.

Sending the fuel to the engine as a liquid means that the fuel delivery into the cylinder can be more precisely controlled, allowing exact amounts of fuel to enter it. The colder fuel, too, cools down the air entering the cylinder, allowing a greater density of air to enter it. It’s a powertrain engineer’s dream.

However, the system is not without its problems. Shut off the engine, and the liquid LPG won’t stay liquid for very long, creating all the same problems – longer cranking times and that familiar LPG pong – as the old gas engine.

To get around this, the EcoLPi system switches on in the Falcon as soon as you open the driver’s door. Unlike the petrol car – which will start and feed fuel as soon as you turn the ignition key – by the time you’ve hopped in the gas Falcon it has already flushed the fuel line with a fresh batch of liquefied gas.

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Turn and release the ignition key, and the engine on our G6 test car fires up almost immediately. In a worst-case scenario, such as trying to restart a hot motor on a 49-degree day, it may take up to six seconds to restart the car, but the Falcon’s ignition system means you won’t have to hold the key in the start position while the engine sorts itself out.

The update to the newer engine means the EcoLPi now has the same six-speed automatic gearbox as the petrol models, although slightly retuned to take advantage of the gas car’s slight torque advantage over the petrol car, contributing about a 2 per cent gain to fuel efficiency on its own.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I reckon I can pick the LPG engine at low revs just by the sound of it. There’s a bit of a metallic rasp to the note that is overwhelmed by the exhaust note as soon as revs start to rise.

It feels powerful, too. Overlaying the power and torque curves for the engine running on premium unleaded petrol and on the new LPG system results in a very close match, with the LPG engine having a slightly more linear torque delivery.

How close? As an example, Ford took us to the State Motorcycle Sports Complex at Broadford, where they had two unmarked XR6 Falcons side-by-side on the main straight — one running on LPG and the other 95 RON petrol. Both develop 198kW, but at 409Nm the LPG car has a slight torque edge (the petrol version produces 391Nm).

In a pure drag race, car number two – the LPG-fuelled version, as it was revealed – consistently crossed the line first over repeated runs. Because the LPG Falcon engine matches the improvements made to the petrol engine developed for the current-generation Falcon, you’re not going to smell the difference, either.

The improvement in power is also noticeable from behind the wheel. The EcoLPi Falcon needs much less throttle application to get the gas-fed Falcon’s extra 70kg of bulk over the petrol-powered version rolling from the traffic lights.

The EcoLPi engine now uses another familiar Falcon trait for the first time; the ability to completely shut off the fuel feed to cylinders while coasting down hills, and use the engine as a brake – a trait it achieved comfortably on a long downhill run and locked in third gear.

Our loop through the rolling hills north of Melbourne, mostly tooling along through 80km/h zones on quiet semi-rural roads, should have had the EcoLPi Falcon performing at its prime. However, at the end of a 50km run the trip computer on our G6 was showing a surprisingly high 14.0L/100km despite the gentle drive.

Checking the two other cars in front of us showed 13.4 (XR6) and 14.5L (XT) results, while a hard-driven G6E at the head of the pack was up above 19.0L/100km.

This was odd, as the trip computer’s instant fuel use reading was consistently showing around the 10-11L/100km mark, and re-setting the trip computer part way through the next leg resulted in a more believable 10.6L/100km figure.

The culprit, then, would appear to be idling at traffic lights, where we noticed the average fuel use figure climbing steadily even while the engine was just ticking over.

The stop also provided an opportunity to investigate one of the previous LPG Falcon’s flaws — the boot.

Because the spare wheel well is removed in the LPG model to make way for a pair of gas tanks, Ford’s solution was to unceremoniously dump the spare in the middle of the boot, severely compromising space.

The only other criticism that could be levelled at the new EcoLPi Falcon is tyre choice. The LPG versions on launch are all using harder-wearing Goodyear Excellence tyres, which did not feel as confident on damp surfaces as the Dunlops fitted to the last petrol G6 we drove, admittedly some time ago. It will be interesting to compare them back-to-back.

The boot, too, still has the spare wheel hangover, with buyers now offered the choice of a tyre inflation kit, a space-saver spare or for $250, a full-size spare wheel. The spare wheels eat into boot space, but the tyre inflation kit has an outside chance of leaving you stranded if the tyre doesn’t reinflate. It’s going to be a tough choice.

The LPG version of the Falcon shapes up as a decent advance on a model that private buyers have traditionally overlooked. Once the word gets around that its as good, if not better, than the petrol model – and cheaper to run, too – they may change their minds.